Apron-band sliver coiler



Dec. 25, 1962 TSUTOMU ITO APRON-BAND SLIVER COILER Filed 061'.- 19, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet l III/A Fktana [to I I/WE/VTOR Dec. 25, 1962 TSUTOMU ITO APRON-BAND SLIVER COILER 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 19, 1959 llllllllllllllll CW w r a V W W if m K V/ 5 Dec. 25, 1962 TSUTOMU ITO 3, APRON-BAND SLIVER COILER Filed Oct. 19, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Eatomz [AWE/V7079.

BY KM A? AGE/V7- United States Patent Uhfice 3,969,729 Patented Dec. 25, 1952 3,069,729 APRON-BAND SLIVER (JOILER Tsntomu Ito, Naka-ku, Nagoya-shi, Japan, assignor to Howa Kogyo Kabushiki-Kaisha (known as Howe Machinery, Ltd.) Aichi-lren, Japan, a limited-liability company of Japan Filed Oct. 19, 1959, Ser. No. 847,267 Claims priority, application Japan Oct. 21, 1953 9 Claims. (Cl. 19-159) The present invention relates to an improved apronband sliver coiler of the type disclosed in my abandoned application Ser. No. 733,360 filed May 6, 1958, of which this application is a continuation-in-part.

In spinning proceses, the vessel which contains the collected fibers, called sliver, is termed a can. In general practice, the sliver is packed into said can in such a manner that said sliver is coiled along the inner surface of said can. In general practice, moreover, a mechanism called the coiler gear is used for depositing said sliver in a helicoidal manner.

This coiler gear contains a tube extending from the center of the gear at the top to an eccentrically disposed hole on the bottom of the gear, whereby the sliver fed into the top of said gear passes through the tube and is discharged from said hole.

One trouble which occurs frequently with this type of mechanism is the choking of the sliver in said tube. The causes which increase the possibility of the occurrence of said trouble are: the accumulation of water droplets on the inner surface of said tube; the handling of bulky sliver; the handling of sliver which is easily charged with static electricity; etc.

In order to eliminate the above-mentioned trouble completely and yet obtain the same coiling effect, moveable apron bands may be so disposed, in place of the aforesaid tube, as to hold the sliver between the aprons which travel at the velocity of movement of the sliver. In the application of this method, the upper apron is concavely curved and the lower apron assumes the convex curvature of the driving roll thereof. Although these upper and l wer aprons have different configurations, they must move at exactly the same velocity in their respective horizontal portions because they are touching each other at said portions.

Of course, since the aprons have suitable thicknesses, it is impossible to develop a high pressure between the roll driving the upper apron and that driving the lower apron without damagin the aprons. Consequently, with the conventional mechanism, the sliver which is led between these two driving rolls is clamped between the aprons and delivered through the discharge hole without being sufficiently compressed, and the ability of the mechanism to condense the sliver is relatively little.

In the case of the generally-used, conventional coiler gear, a pair of calender rolls, which squeeze at a high pressure, are arranged above the apron-band assembly, and the sliver is first amply squeezed by the high pressure of said calender rolls, then delivered to the discharge tube. Accordingly, the degree of condensation of the sliver in an apron band system may be less than that otherwise provided. Consequently, the use of an apron band system in this manner entails a considerable, disadvantageous reduction in the total weight of sliver which can be con tained in a can of given value.

It is an essential object of this invention to provide a mechanism which is capable of compressing the sliver by means of calender rolls and then conveying the same by means of apron bands to the position of the coiler gear hole, yet does not entail the above mentioned disadvantages.

2 t is another object of the present invention to provide a mechanism wherein its operational objects are attained in a single mechanical unit without the use of a combination of separate parts such as an assemblage of independent calender rolls and tube gear as described above.

Said objects and other objects and advantages of the present invention have been attained by the mechanism of the present invention, the details of which will be more clearly apparent by reference to the following detailed description of a few representative embodiments of the invention when taken in connection with the accompanying illustrations, in which the same parts are indicated by same numerals, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a side-elevational view, with certain portions broken away, of a representative arrangement of rolls of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the mechanism as shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3, 5, and 7 are side elevational views, with parts broken away, of the mechanism of the present invention with various examples of power transmission;

FIGS. 4, 6, and 8 are plan views corresponding, respectively, to FIGS. 3. 5, and 7.

In the embodiments of the present invention, the mechanism comprises, in combination, means for transmitting to the calender rolls the motion resulting from the rotation induced in a pinion, which is meshed with a stationary gear, by the rotation of a ring gear, and a power transmission mechanism for driving upper and lower aprons which move with a predetermined kinematic relation to each other and to the aforesaid motions.

Referring to FIG. 1, rotation is transmitted from a vertical shaft ll, through a gear 2. fixed at the end of said shaft 1, to the teeth 3 of a ring gear 33. On one hand, a pinion gear 5 is provided to mesh with an internal. gear 4 which is disposed co-axially with said gear 33 but does not rotate, the shaft of said pinion gear being supported by the coiler-gear body. Accordingly, the rotation of the pinion gear 5 is induced by the internal gear 4 when the coiler gear 3 rotates and is transmitted to one calender roll 10 through bevel gears 6 and '7 to cause said roll to rotate. Simultaneously, driving power is transmitted through gears 3 and 9 to drive another calender roll 11.

Furtermore, the bearing assemblies of the calender rolls in and ill are so constructed that relative movement can take place between their bearings and their res ective supports so as to make it possible to vary the distance between the rolls. Furthermore, the calender roll 11 is pressed against the calender roll in by springs bearing on the roll 11.

In the present invention, in addition to the abovedescribed mechanism of general nature, there is provided a pair of aprons 112 and 13 which promptly intercept the sliver passed through the calender rolls ill and ii, convey the same in an approximately horizontal path, and carry the same to the position where the sliver is delivered f om the hole 18. That is, the mechanism is such that both of these aprons l2 and 13 move at exactly the same velocity, and, at the same time, said velocity is very slightly higher than that of the sliver delivered by the calender rolls ill and ill (i.e. than the peripheral speed of the rolls ill and ill). A funnel 8d feeds the sliver between the rolls.

Such a mechanism may be constructed according to various kinds of mechanical arrangements. One example is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, wherein a sprocket wheel 22 is fixed to the shaft of the calender roll i i; a sprocket wheel 22 fixed to the roller 14 drives the lower apron 12 while another sprocket wheel 21 fixed to the shaft of the roller 15 drives the upper apron 13 via a chain 23 stretched over said sprocket wheels, whereby the rotation of the calender roll 10 rotates with a certain, fixed relation to the motions of the aprons l2 and 13. Of course, tension rollers 16 and it? apply tension on the lower apron l2 and upper apron 13, respectively, so as to prevent slippage between said aprons and their respective driving rollers 14 and 15'.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate another driving system. in this mechanical arrangement, the driving power from the pinion gear 5 is transmitted directly to the calender roll 11, and support structure of the roll ill is such that springs act on the hearings. in this case, a gear 25 is fixed to the shaft of the calender roll 11; a gear 28 is fixed to the shaft of the roller 14 which drives the lower aprons; a gear 29 is fixed to the shaft of the rolls 15 which drives the upper apron; and, as shown in the drawings, idler gears 26 and 237 are installed the-rebetween. By this mechanical arrangement, exactly the same eii'ect as that attainable by the previously-described chain-drive arrangement is achieved.

In yet another mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, the driving power from the pinion gear 5 is transmitted to a counter shaft 30, from which it is transmitted through a gear 31 to a pinion 32 fixed to the shaft of the calender roll ill. The driving power is further transmitted, as previously described, through the gears 8 and 9 to rotate the calender roll 11. Through a similar gear train, it is possible to transmit the driving power to the driving roller 37 of the lower apron and, through gears, to the driving roller 36 of the upper apron. The driving rollers 36 and 37 are, respectively, provided with the tension rollers 35 and 34 which are used to induce suitable tensions of the upper apron l3 and lower apron 12.

The objects of this invention may be attained by any of the above-described constructions wherein the common feature is in providing a mechanism which is so constructed as to rotate the calender rolls, the rotation of said mechanism being induced by the rotation of a coiler gear through a stationary gear disposed concentrically therewith, in the central part of said coiler gear; a set of upper and lower aprons below said mechanism for guiding the sliver horizontally; and a suitable gear train for moving said aprons with a fixed velocity relation with respect to the rotational velocity of said calender rolls.

While I have described the particular embodiments of my invention, it will, of course, be understood that I do not wish this invention to be limited thereto, since many modifications may be made and I therefore, contemplate by the appended claims to cover all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. An assembly for coiling sliver, comprising a rotatable support adapted to be disposed above the mouth of an upwardly open can, means for rotating said support relatively to said can, a pair of juxtaposed calender rolls journaled to said support for rotation in mutually opposite senses, means for introducing sliver between said rolls, apron-band means juxtaposed with at least one of said rolls and mounted on said support for receiving sliver passed between said rolls and dispensing said sliver into said can, transmission means interconnecting said apronband means and at least one of said rolls for operating same with a predetermined peripheral-speed relationship, and drive means for rotating said one calender roll and said apron-band means, said transmission means including a first toothed wheel on said support secured to and rotatable with said one of said rolls, a second toothed wheel on said support operatively coupled with said apron-band means, and a coupling member on said support positively engaging said first and second toothed Wheels for transmitting rotation from said one of said rolls to said apron-band means.

2. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said calender rolls are disposed along the axis of rotation of s id support, said apron-band means comprising an endless band disposed below said calender rolls, said band being adapted to take up sliver passed between said rolls and to convey the sliver to a discharge location oiiset from said axis.

3. An assembly according to claim 2 wherein said support is provided with a port at said discharge location, aid band being disposed above said port, said apronband men s further comprising a second endless band bearing upon the first-mentioned endless band and adapted to drop sliver conveyed upon said first-mentioned band through said port.

4. An assembly according to claim 3 wherein said endless bands are each provided with a respective drive roller and, spaced from it, a respective idler roller both journaled on said support, one roller of said first endless band and one roller of said second endless band being disposed directly below said calender rolls.

5. An assembly according to claim 4 wherein said transmission means couples at least one of said drive rollers with said one calender roll.

6. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said drive means comprises a pinion gear journaled to said support, a stationary internal gear meshing with said pinion gear, and first gear means operatively connecting at least one of said calender rolls to said pinion gear.

7. An assembly according to claim 1, further comprising means for resiliently urging said calender rolls against each other.

8. An assembly for coiling sliver, comprising a support rotatable about a substantially vertical axis and adapted to be disposed above the mouth of an upwardly open can, main drive means for rotating said support relatively to said can, a pair of juxtaposed calender rolls journaled to said support for rotation about respective substantially horizontal axes in mutually opposite senses, said calender rolls being disposed in the vicinity of said ertical axis for introducing sliver between said rolls, apron-band means juxtaposed with at least one of said rolls and mounted on said support for receiving sliver passed between said rolls and conveying said sliver to a discharge location offset from said vertical axis, transmission means interconnecting said apron-band means and at least one of said rolls for operating same with a predetermined peripheral-speed relationship and means including said main drive means for rotating said one calender roll, said transmission means including a first toothed wheel on said support secured to and rotatable with said one of said rolls, a second toothed wheel on said support operatively coupled with said apron-band means, and a coupling member on said support positively engaging said first and second toothed wheels for transmitting rotation from said one of said rolls to said apronband means.

9. An assembly according to claim 8, further comprising funnel means for said sliver juxtaposed with the 'eripheries of both said rolls in the vicinity of their line of closest approach, said funnel means opening downwardly toward the gap between said rolls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

